Transition to Online Training

Welcome to the RTO Superhero podcast with me Angela Connell Richards. Each week we break down the standards for RTO's 2025 and turn them into clear actions you can use. You get real examples, compliance tips and straight answers for running a quality RTO. Let's get started. [Music] In this episode we'll be covering transition to education, moving your face-to-face training to online training. With COVID and all of the changes that that made to the workforce now and into the future, where jobs have changed forever, we really need to identify now how we're meeting the future needs of education and students. A lot of students are now expecting that they're going to be able to access at least part of their course to online. What are you doing to meet the needs and the future needs of education and your students? Now are you transitioning? Be it fully online or even partially online? What are you going to be able to provide in order to move your training with the needs of your students? In this episode we're covering the six steps to transitioning to online. So looking at planning for success, technology and equipment, online delivery modes, communication, continuous improvement and the business opportunities that arise from moving your training to online. Let's start with planning for success. You need to plan to plan. You need to have that planning place. So you really should hold a planning meeting with your team to identify what are your client needs and how will you need the current and future needs of your students for that transition from face to face to online, be it fully online or even partly online. What is their current status? Are they able to get online? Do they have the tools, technology and techniques to be able to do that? How are you going to transition your students from face to face to online? You really should be engaging with the current students that you have to identify how you can meet their needs. Ask them, what can we do to provide education that's going to meet your needs? You also need to identify how are you going to communicate with your students whilst you're doing that transition from face to face to online? Map out a plan for the next three, six, twelve months to identify what that process will be. Normally what you would do is you would do a slow process of moving over. You might be part online and slowly move over to fully online if that's where you want to go. Really need to identify what can be implemented in the long term and how are you going to meet those needs. In this strategic planning meeting, what you should cover is identify who should be in your planning team, who are the key stakeholders in your business. These are the people who will play the pivotal role with that transition from face to face to online. You should set aside a whole day for focusing on this planning for this transition from face to face to online and what that process will be. Prior to that, you should do some surveys with your clients, your current clients and industry to identify what are their needs. Things like what worked really well, what doesn't work, what do you find good about online training, what do you find hard about online training and how you can meet those needs. Identify how you will hold the meeting and who will be involved with that and looking at whether you're going to do that meeting online or whether it will be a face to face meeting. Focus on the future of your students. What is happening right now, but what will they need in the future transitioning through their career? This is looking at even your past students and what needs do they have moving into the future. There are so many opportunities that come out of moving your training to online, be it partly or fully online. So you really need to identify what are those opportunities, what needs will you be meeting and how can you ensure continuity with your training and your students and what they need with that transition. What equipment do you need or will you need help with? So how are you going to ensure that you have all of the tools, technology and equipment that you're going to need to be able to deliver that training to an online mode. So that's the first step is really looking at identifying the strategy of that transition from face to face to online. But there is so much more that you need to consider. You need to be looking at the online delivery methods, which is the next step of what I'll be covering. So with online delivery, you really need to look at the learning styles of your students and where they've come from and where they're going to. So that would be looking at the demographics of your students and what are their skills and knowledge right now and where do they need to go in the future. So as learning has evolved, we've changed from one-on-one training to face-to-face training, live online, so doing live webinars, pre-recorded online, so pre-recorded your training and offer it online. Now we're moving into mobile app-based training where students can access their training on their mobile phone. And of course, we need to also be aware of there's a number of training products that will require work-based training. So how are you going to ensure that your students are going to be able to access that work-based training and how are they going to access the skills and knowledge whilst they're on the job? So looking at the effectiveness and skills acquisition of your students, you really need to look at the different ways that you can provide training that's really going to meet their needs. How is it individualised for that student? So it's meeting the individual student needs. We also need to identify, well, if you are going online, how are you going to include group-based learning? And what is the strategies you're going to put in place for that group-based training? So that students are able to engage with each other and learn and grow together. When you're looking at the web-based training, what will they need to access that web-based training and how are you going to keep them engaged with that web-based training? So there's different strategies you can use for engagement and these include video, text, quizzes, polls. There's lots of different ways to engage with your students when they're delivering online. You really need to think about the how, how are you going to keep it social and personalised while they're doing and learning? You need to know who they are, who are your students and how are they thinking and how are you going to engage them through those thinking activities within your training? And also how are you going to apply that training with the students that are online and share that knowledge? So what do you need? There are a range of tools and equipment that you're going to need to have in place in order to deliver effective online training. There are different webinar platforms that you can access for that live training where you're delivering through a webinar platform and there are a range of different technology that you can use for that. But that's one form. Another one is video and having online courses where they're accessing pre-recorded videos. This is the optimum way. It saves so much money for the RTO by having that training delivery online where it's able to be reused over and over and over again. But the problem that can come with that when you do have a lot of recordings is it can take up a lot of space on your website. So you really need to identify strategies for video storage and where is that video going to be stored. Another strategy that's really good is Facebook groups. Facebook groups, Facebook groups are really evolved and groups have really evolved where you can even put courses within a Facebook group. There's also great ways to engage with your students through those Facebook groups. Conducting surveys and polls is also another great way to do that. You can do that in Facebook groups. There are webinar platforms that include that. You can also use things such as survey monkey that have surveys and polls within those as well. Other things to consider is the types of learning management systems that you have in place. It does your current database have a learning management system. incorporated in it or are you going to need to get another learning management system that's going to meet the needs of your students? And then of course you've got to look at the equipment that you're going to need for recording, for delivery of the training, for storing that training and also the equipment that your students are going to need as well. So you really need to look at that structure of your online course and how to structure your course the right way. Integrated learning is the best way for engaging students and keeping them engaged. So what I mean by integrated learning is looking at breakout groups, surveys and polls, communication and discussion boards are using things like Facebook groups, how are you going to engage them through e-learning, webinars and other resources? So what you really need to do is identify what do you want to achieve? What is the outcome that you want the student to achieve at the end of the training? If you have too many things, so you really need to think about breaking it down to six to eight milestones. Think carefully about each section, then set them out in a line. If you have too many, see if your topics can actually be combined or if you have too few, can you, some of them be divided and explored in more detail? The sequence and flow of your training is very important to help your students gain confidence and momentum and clarity as your students transition through from A to Z to achieve the unit of competency. Give all your students an overview of the outcome system and info that you are going to be teaching in particular with the module. There are lots of different ways that you can deliver training online. It can be via face-to-camera, so it's where the trainer is delivering face to the camera and they're speaking directly into the camera lens. The other one is using a whiteboard, so it could be a virtual whiteboard or an actual whiteboard. There's great ways that you can have a camera going straight over the top of the whiteboard where you're explaining or it could be through an iPad or a digital device where you're using a whiteboard system on there. The other ones is looking screen shares, they're sharing your screen with your PowerPoint or showing your desktop and doing demonstrations through that. And then of course having a really good slide pack that you can use for that delivery of the training. Download Click and Flick is gone, dead and died. Like you just can't deliver training anymore with a download Click and Flick. It is not considered online training and it's really disengaging for the student. In order to really engage your students, you need to make it interactive with the trainers and other students. So how are you going to ensure that you are doing that with your training? Simulation should be realistic and it shouldn't simply be a download Click and Flick matter. A production schedule is a really good way to be able to put your course together that with the best outcomes for your students. This production schedule should be written in conjunction with your delivery and assessment plan. So for each course work out a production schedule of how you're going to deliver and the different methods that you're going to use and whether there's going to be handouts and assessments and what are you going to use and how are you going to deliver that? How will you collect sufficient evidence with your students and adapt your delivery and assessment plan or your session plan to in conjunction with that? Okay, the next step is technology and equipment for your online learning and there is so much technology out there that you can use. So you really need to scale your learning to meet your student needs. Looking at what are the different types of webinars and online learning systems and personalize it to each individual learner, provide a seamless experience for your students and keep them engaged. Right now there is so much technology that you can access for webinars, surveys and polls, e-learning, communication and discussion, back breakout groups and the different resources that you can use for that delivery. We often use Zoom and if you don't know what Zoom is, you're mostly being hidden under a rock because Zoom has really taken off. But there's also other platforms such as GoToWebinar, there's ones such as Demio, Bimeo, there's a range of different things that you can do for delivering your training. You can even do Facebook Live, LinkedIn Live, there's lots of different ways that you can engage with your students. We've found a really good game and polling survey type of platform that you can use is one called GoToGoToGoToGoToGoTo is really good because it's fun and engaging and it really keeps the student engaged and they do it like a game so it's a gamification of your training. So there's so many different things that you can do where you can use different technology to meet your student needs but you really need to identify what is it that your students really need. So you really need to make sure that the tools makes it a human experience. So the learner resources and looking at the individual and the group have a weekly leaderboard for your group. Inactivity mobile push notifications if they're not engaging, how are you going to keep them engaged? Inactivity email notifications for, you know, are they keeping up to date with their training and what are they doing? There's also SMS push notifications that you can do and based, you can have trigger based emails and rewards that provide rewards for students who complete levels of their training. Sort of like gaming, doing it that way. Okay, what equipment will you need? So what will you need and what will your students need? So as a trainer, you're going to need a webcam, really good lighting because a trainer in the dark is very disengaging for a student. You want to have good lighting that really focuses on the trainer or the subject matter of what they're delivering. Microphone is also very important, making sure that you have a microphone that is going to pick up what the trainer is saying and how you're going to ensure that they're going to be heard really well. Using a whiteboard is good and as I talked about earlier, a digital whiteboard is also very engaging as well. We recommend the use of thick pens if you are going to use an actual whiteboard is using those thick pens on the whiteboard that works really well and also helps with different colors of those pens. You really need to identify does the trainer have access to fast internet as well because when you're delivering online, you want to make sure that you have methods that are going to be able to be able to keep you going to have internet that's going to be able to keep up with what the trainer is doing. And does the trainer have access to a laptop or some sort of computer that they're going to be able to record on? Camera is a really important so making sure that you have good quality and easy to use camera. Okay, so we've looked at camera lighting, microphones, whiteboard and what does the student need? So the students are going to need some sort of digital device and that can be a mobile phone or tablet or a laptop or something that they're going to be able to engage with with your training. They're also going to need access to internet and sound and if you want to have them interacting, they may also need access to a camera as well. So you really need to identify what is the tools and equipment that the student is going to need, include that within your training and assessment strategy and also place it into your marketing, ensuring that the student understands what they're going to need to have access to prior to course commencement. The other really key element with delivery online is communication. How are you going to ensure that the students are engaged and communicating not only with their trainer but with the other students within the group? So with the trainer is making sure that they're involved in the transition process from the face to face to online and how are you going to communicate with the students with the engagement of moving to an online platform? How are you going to make sure that they're feeling comfortable with their training? Get the trainers feedback. What is the process that they're going to go through? Identify your student needs and keep them well informed. Provide training in the technology that the students are going to need to know in order to get on to the training. Also for your trainers, making sure your trainers are up to speed with the technology as well. For your students, you need to look at well how are you going to access them? Email and phone. You need to also provide clear instructions on how they are to transition from face to face to online training and make sure that that you're minimising any fears that they may have with that transition and the biggest fear can be losing connection with their trainer and assessor as well. The other thing is losing connection with other students that they would normally have in the classroom, how are you going to keep them engaged? Make it easy for them to register and transition to that online mode and provide some video training for them on how to transition. Explain the benefits to the students for that transition from face to face to online. One area that you really need to make sure that you're addressing as well is the concerns that your students and trainers may have with moving from face to face to online. So address that feedback swiftly. Identify an actor on those issues, avoid complaints. Most students will understand with that transition from face to face to online. So it's just getting them involved with the whole process. The other one is looking at your marketing materials and updating your website with that delivery method and how are you transitioning from face to face to online and make it really clear what that process is and what the students will need to have in place in order to be able to transition to the online learning and keep highlight the benefits of that online learning and the benefits to the student. Also makes your associate website is also your other marketing material that's going out there and when you're transitioning a current learner cohort from face to face to online, it's keeping them engaged with moving to the online platform. Use your social media to inform your students through, it could be through Facebook groups or linked in groups or different strategies through your social media that you can use to access your students. Don't assume that everyone reads their emails. There are a lot of people who just delete their emails or don't even look at their emails. Explain the steps to get online. What is the process for transitioning from that face to face to online training and how to connect with other students and as well as the RTO and the trainers and assessors and state whether the RTO will be open to and when they will be open. So when will you be able to take those live questions from your students and help them through that process of transitioning from face to face to online. What's really important is making sure that you're keeping your continuous improvement in place. So monitor your students and your clients and your team and get feedback from them of what their needs are. Identify complaints before they arise if possible. Listen to the complaints. Minute any feedback and keep engaged with industry to identify how you can improve your training to meet industry needs but also the student and the trainer needs. To take a review process and discuss it meetings, adjust the training as required. The first version of the training that you start delivering online will change and evolve. How are you going to improve that training based on the feedback that you've received to ensure that you're keeping the students engaged? Empower your trainers to be flexible with their training and get feedback from your trainers regularly. Send out surveys and listen and act on that feedback. Follow up on feedback before they become complaints. Minute and action taken at the meetings. Keep everyone informed. Ignorance is not bliss. We need to make sure that everyone knows what they're doing and what's required to ensure that we're keeping up to date with what the student needs are and collect evidence as well of what you're doing and how you progress in improving your training assessment to meet the student needs. Document those changes. Big area is compliance and looking at the regulatory requirements of compliance. So ASCRA went through a regular, a massive change when we went through COVID and a number of announcements came out about transitioning from face to face to online and how are you delivering your training? They also released an online platform on their website of that transition from face to face to online or distance mode and what you need to have in place in order to ensure your compliance. So I highly recommend you get onto the ASCRA website and check that out because there's some great information on there. ASCRA are now targeting all of those articles that did transition from face to face to online and their biggest concern is that you've collected sufficient evidence of the student's competency within each unit of competency. So if you did transition already, you really need to identify well what are those? How have you ensured that you've collected sufficient evidence to meet the training product requirements? And if you if you've already transitioned, you really need to look at that. But even looking into the future, you really need to look at well, if we do get audited, have we collected sufficient evidence that the student is competent? Do we need to collect further evidence on what do we need to do? There is so many business opportunities with transitioning from face to face to online. So often out of adversity, new opportunities arise and due to COVID, we have had such a massive change in the training industry having to pivot and transition from face to face to online or doing delivery through distance mode. But there are so many opportunities with delivering training online and different government departments are actually offering incentives for RTOs to get online. I know in South Australia, the state training authority in South Australia really they actually had a government grant that went out to RTOs to transition from their face to face training to online. So what other training could you be offering accredited and non accredited to your students right now that's going to meet the current and future needs in your industry sectors that you are servicing? You might want to consider an addition to scope for your training products that you currently offering or it could be a shuffle around of the training that you're offering and identifying other units that you could offer within as electives within the trainings such as infection control. There are a few COVID ones that came out for infection control. That's a unit that you could add that would meet those needs for future workplaces. So the other thing you should look at is what are the skill shortages in your state or your local area and how can you meet those needs? There is so much government funding out there right now under job trainer. How are you meeting the needs of skill shortages for now and the future? And if you have not access government funding before, have you got a strategy in place to access government funding in the future? Now right now, in order to access government funding in individual states, on the majority, you need to be operating for a minimum of two years before you can access government funding. But if you're in a unique market where there isn't a lot of competitors, there's not a lot of other RTOs delivering that training, those opportunities have changed where you can actually access the government funding earlier than that two-year period that they normally require. And the reason why is because there's such a shortage of RTOs out there to meet the demand of the training that's required out there. So really go out to your industry and find out what do they need and how can you meet their needs? Go to the job active providers and ask them what are their needs and how can you provide training for the job active providers? Now you don't need to be registered for government funding in order to provide training for job active providers because job active providers, they get access to another bucket of funding that they can use for putting students through your training. What other services or products could you offer? How else could you serve the market? If I could waive a magic wand right now, what service or product could you create that would meet the industry needs right now? Do a call to action, incentivise with a gift, ask people what do they want? What training can you provide to meet their needs? Ask industry, job active providers, there's lots of different areas that you can go to. And with micro-credentialing on the horizon, how can you meet industry needs through skill sets? So breaking down units of competencies or breaking down qualifications into units and putting together a skill set that's going to meet industry needs that gets people into jobs. There are a lot of jobs out there right now, but not the skills and knowledge required to fill those jobs. So how can you meet those needs? Partnerships is also another great opportunity. Who could you partner with? We've got a few clients who have access to job trainer, but they don't have all of the facilities, equipment or trainers to be able to deliver the training needs and the amount of funding that they've got. So who could you partner with? We have a Facebook group called the Vacity Community. And we have a lot of our RTOs connecting and engaging on there who are partnering with other RTOs. What could you do to partner with other RTOs? There are so many other potential partners out there with RTOs and even not accredited training providers that could deliver training on your behalf. You could also look at the suppliers that supply your industry sectors. So I mean, if you're delivering training in forklift driving, could you possibly go to the suppliers in the forklift industry and look at partnership opportunities with them? Is there training that you could provide for the suppliers? Looking at industry professionals and what sort of partnerships could you engage with there? And then also looking at government departments and where could you partner with, it's not the formal third party arrangement, partnership arrangement that you're looking at with government departments, but it's how can you meet their needs? How can you put together courses that are going to meet the government's needs? All right, that's it for today's podcast where I covered transitioning from face-to-face training to online training. If you'd like to learn more about that transition from face-to-face to online, we actually have a non-line course that covers this as well. So go to vivacity.com.au and there are a range of courses on there, or you can also give us a call on 1-379-445 or email us hello at vivacity-bivacyt.com.au and we'd love to help. Thanks for now, and I hope you got a lot out of this podcast. Thanks for joining me on the RTO Superhero podcast. Use today's insights to strengthen your systems and lift the quality of your delivery. Subscribe, share the episode, and keep building a strong and accountable RTO. See you next time. Victory win today!